Opening day grosses for Universal’s “Despicable Me 2” soared with $34.3 million, while Disney’s big-budget “The Lone Ranger” is resembling the high-speed train wreck depicted in the movie, grossing less than $10 million on Wednesday.

The five-day projection for “Despicable Me 2” is now at around $125 million, depending on how well the toon holds up on the Fourth of July. The holiday itself typically is a slow moviegoing day, especially for family films.

Meanwhile, “Lone Ranger,” which cost $225 million (not including marketing), sadly looks to be another “John Carter” for Disney, with opening five day projections upwards of $45 million. That’s a paltry sum compared to what Disney needed the film to earn, and even with star Johnny Depp goosing overseas prospects, it’s highly unlikely the international markets will warm to the iconic American Western enough to make up for slagging Stateside box office.

Bowing at just 876 playdates, Lionsgate-Summit’s stand-up concert docu, “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain,” grossed an outstanding $4.8 million during its opening day, which should translate to somewhere around $29 million through Sunday.

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Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” remake is on its way to a commendable Memorial Day weekend debut with an estimated $109 million over the four-day period. The musical fantasy starring Will Smith and Mena Massoud should uncover about $87 million in its first three days from 4,476 North American theaters after taking in $31 million on Friday. [...]

Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” is heading for at least $100 million in North America during the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, early estimates showed Friday. “Aladdin” will likely finish Friday with around $30 million, including $7 million in Thursday night previews. Sony’s launch of horror-thriller “Brightburn” should pull in about $10 million for the holiday weekend and [...]

Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” flew to $7 million during Thursday night previews in North America. That’s well above the $5.7 million that “Pokemon Detective Pikachu” earned two weeks ago on its way to a $54 million three-day opening. Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” took in $5.5 million in previews on the [...]

Sony’s action comedy “Men in Black: International” is heading for a $40 million launch in North America on the June 14-16 weekend, early tracking showed Thursday. New Line’s opening of its “Shaft” sequel, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jessie T. Usher and Richard Roundtree, should wind up in the $18 million range during the same frame, [...]

When Disney first released “Aladdin” in 1992, Bill Clinton was just elected president, “Game of Thrones” wasn’t much more than a book idea percolating in the mind of author George R.R. Martin, and Johnny Carson was wrapping up his stint as “Tonight Show” host. In some ways, 2019 feels like a whole new world. But [...]

Unusually, all of the top five films at the China box office this weekend were non-Chinese. That’s a relatively rare occurrence, as audiences typically favor local films over foreign content. But it is one that may happen more often, as high-performing local titles become fewer and farther between due to production slowdowns. The lack of [...]

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes put up a good fight, but John Wick put at end to the three-week box office reign of “Avengers: Endgame.” Propelled by positive reviews, “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” beat expectations with a debut of $57 million from 3,850 North American locations. That was enough to nab the box office crown [...]